Christmas · Fun Folds · Holidays

Christmas Slider

Welcome to a new week, everybody! It was a relatively busy weekend for us with lots of bowling for the kiddo, but we spent it together and that sure made it fun! We capped off the weekend by bringing our feral momma kitty and her five precious week-old babies inside in preparation from exterior housework we’re having done this week that would have upended her cozy hiding spot. So we scooped up her little birthing hut (thank goodness she used it this time!) and brought her and the crew inside where they’ll all stay until babies are big enough to go to the local rescue group for adoption and mom is recovered enough to (finally) get fixed. I’ll have to share some precious baby photos once I can get momma to let me take some good ones.

This week we’re on to a new design theme — all that glitters is gold. With so many beautiful gold foiled and glittery products in the Stampin’ Up! lineup, it should be a week of shiny goodness! We get started with some goodies from the new suite called Traditions of Christmas and pair them up with a few oldies, like gold foil sheets, Regal Distressed Patterns paper, and a few die sets.

You might recognize this gift card layout and think that it looks familiar. And you would be exactly right! We’re flipping our new slider fun fold on its side to create today’s beautiful gift card design. I’m currently working on the tutorial and hope to have that up on the site later this week!

We get started with a base of Cherry Cobbler cardstock and score it to create the off-center barn fold look with the right panel serving as the pocket for our slider section. A sheet of the beautiful Traditions of Christmas paper serves as the backdrop for our card front. The overlapping focal panel backdrop is a combination of gold foil cut with the Perennial Postage dies and a sheet of the Regal Distressed Patterns paper cut with the Textured Notes dies. We use a combination of the Christmas Greenery dies and paper snips to cut the floral elements from another sheet of the Traditions of Christmas paper. The larger spray of florals is the focal image for the front panel, while the smaller fussy-cut elements serve as the cover for the slider pocket of the gift card panel. The front floral spray is adhered over a twist of the Real Red shiny ribbon using several layers of dimensionals. We finish everything off with a scattering of the Traditional Sparkling sequins across the front panel and add just a few on the gift card panel.

When adhering the florals on the sliding panel, ensure that they are flat for a fully unobstructed open/close of the inside slider gift card panel.

I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see what we have glittering next!

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Holiday Mini Catalog · Holidays

Wreath of Joy

This week we’ve been making clean & simple holiday card designs using some of the new Stampin’ Up! holiday products that just launched this week. Today we’re pairing up the Joyful Days Memories & More cards with the Greetings for You ephemera to create this lovely wreath of joy.

We get started with a base of Early Espresso cardstock. I love how it pulls out the wood stem of the evergreen in the wreath. Our backdrop is one of the larger cards of Christmas plaid from the Joyful Days pack. This really makes things festive. Our focal panel consists of two panels – the wreath card from the Joyful Days pack and the mat of Old Olive Season of Elegance paper. I love how this gives the perfect amount of sparkle that really helps bring our sentiment front and center. The full panel is adhered to the card backdrop using dimensionals. The sentiment JOY is from the Greetings for You ephemera pack and is adhered on multiple layers of dimensionals to ensure it stands tall above the rest of the design. We finish things off with a bow of Mossy Meadow & Gold ribbon at the top-center of our wreath and then some gold sparkly sequins from the Traditional Sparkling Sequins pack in opposing corners to tie the gold elements together.

I hope you’ve gotten some good ideas from this week’s designs to get you started on your holiday card stash. Next week is all about birthdays. I hope you’ll come along as we tour through the crafty stash to make some fun birthday cards.

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Holiday Mini Catalog · Holidays

Christmas Wishes

Howdy, friends! Have this week’s card designs gotten you into the holiday spirit? Well, today’s card will have you smelling evergreens. *wink*

We’re using some of the new Stampin’ Up! holiday release products to create our clean & simple holiday card designs this week. And today, we’re pairing up the Joyful Days Memories & More card pack with the Christmas Tags & More paper pack with coordinating ephemera sheets and the Greetings for You ephemera pack. And what kind of card would it be if I didn’t include some sparkle? *grin*

We get started with this card with a base of Shaded Spruce cardstock. The background panel is a sheet of snowflake pattern Christmas Tags & More paper diecut with the largest Textured Notes die. The bottom of the panel is wrapped with Shaded Spruce sheer ribbon that is tied off with some gold thread (both now retired). Our focal panel is the smaller evergreen card from the Joyful Days card pack that is matted with some (retired) Shaded Spruce festive glimmer paper and mounted on dimensionals. I added some of the packages from the ephemera sheet included in the Christmas Tags & More pack and mounted them on varying levels of dimensionals for some realistic depth of scene. The tree baubles are some of the traditional sparkling sequins. We finish things off with a holiday sentiment from the Greetings for You ephemera pack and mount it with enough dimensionals to stand above the center focal point.

This is such a super simple design – so fun & so easy to put together. And don’t you think it’s just a lovely way to send some holiday cheer? Tomorrow we’re going to close out this week’s design series with a traditional evergreen wreath. I hope you’ll pop in and check it out.

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Holiday Mini Catalog · Holidays

From Our House

It’s hard to believe that we’re already quickly approaching the weekend. It’s been a super busy week, so it’s really just flying by. I’m gonna need two weekends just to recover. *ha!* So have you gotten to check out all the new goodies that launched yesterday? Which ones are your must-haves? I’m looking forward to playing around more with my faves from the new Holiday Mini catalog & the new Online Exclusives. And since it’s craft show season, I’ll have even more reasons to be in the craft room creating fun new projects!

This week, we’re getting a look at some of the must-haves that I got from the new release. And we’re using the new products to create clean & simple holiday cards. Today’s card combines the Joyful Days Memories & More cards with the Christmas Greenery Dies and the Gathering Together patterned paper to create a design that extends well beyond the traditional Christmas holidays. With the more masculine, neutral color palette, you can easily use this design from fall through winter. And that’s a design I can get behind!

We start with a base of Cherry Cobbler cardstock to tie with the subtle striping in our focal panel plain backdrop. I chose a sheet of the striped foiled Old Olive paper from the Gathering Together paper pack as the full-panel backdrop. It coordinates perfectly with the Joyful Days card that serves as our focal panel background. The evergreen branches are cut from gold foil specialty paper using the Christmas Greenery dies and are tied together with some (now retired) Cherry Cobbler & Gold satin ribbon. The sentiment is from the Greetings for You ephemera pack and is mounted on a small panel of gold & white foiled grid paper from the Nature’s Sweetness paper pack and cut using the Traditional Labels dies. I added some dimensionals behind the sentiment and then behind the full panel when adhering over the greenery to be sure they catch the eye. Some extra sparkle from the traditional sparkling sequins add the perfect coordinating gold finish.

Tomorrow we’re headed to the trees … the Christmas trees. I hope you’ll drop by and check out O Tannenbaum!

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Holiday Mini Catalog · Holidays

Wonderful Time

It is most definitely the most wonderful time of the year. Wanna know why? Two things: (1) it’s starting to feel like fall, which is my most favorite season; AND (2) it’s time for the new Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini Catalog!!! Have you checked out all the new goodies in the shop today? What’s on your shopping list? I’ve already shopped twice and still have a few more things I’m on the fence about.

This week, we’re creating very clean & simple holiday cards using the Joyful Days Memories & More card pack, Greetings for You ephemera pack, and the Christmas Tags & More 6×6 designer series paper pack with coordinating ephemera sheets. Today’s card is maybe just about the simplest design of the whole week. You can literally turn out 6 cards just. like. that.

Today’s card starts with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. I selected the most wonderful time of year card from the Joyful Days pack and cut off just enough so it fits horizontally on the card front. Before adhering with dimensionals, I wrapped the decorative card with some (sadly retired) Cherry Cobbler & Gold satin ribbon tied with a nice, big bow. I finished it all off with a scattering of Pool Party sequins from the Traditional Sparkling sequins pack. Easy peasy!

Tomorrow we’re going to be creating a holiday card that has long legs. You’ll have to drop by to see what I mean. *wink*

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Coming Soon · Holiday Mini Catalog · Holidays

Happy Season

Welcome to a bright, shiny new week, everyone! We’re enjoying a day off and taking full advantage of not doing much! So that means plenty of time to play in the craft room with some new goodies and getting a start on making new gifties for an October craft show, which means playing around with goodies from the retired stash.

It’s hard to believe that a whole new batch of Online Exclusives AND the brand new Holiday Mini Catalog goodies are due to launch tomorrow! I’m so excited for you to see all of the new things. The last few releases have been a little underwhelming, in my opinion anyway, but this one is worth the wait. This release is jam-packed full of good, GOOD stuff!

This week, we’re taking an early tour of some holiday goodies as we play with the new Joyful Days Memories & More card pack, the Greetings for You ephemera, and the Christmas Tags & More patterned paper pack that includes coordinating ephemera.

For today’s card, we get started with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. The background panel is a combination of patterns – a sheet of red Season of Elegance foiled paper and a sheet of the festive plaid from the Christmas Tags & More pack. The focal panel is one of the smaller tree scene cards from the Joyful Days card pack that is matted with some gold textured paper. Some new Real Red shiny ribbon is tied around the bottom third of the full panel. And tucked underneath on several layers of dimensionals is the foiled sentiment from the Greetings for You ephemera pack. I’ve finished things off with a touch of sparkle in opposing corners from the Traditional Sparkling Sequins.

I hope you’ll drop by tomorrow to see another holiday-inspired design.

Products used in today’s card:
Crumb Cake cardstock
Christmas Tags & More (launching tomorrow!), textured gold metallic, Season of Elegance DSP
Joyful Days Memories & More card pack (launching tomorrow!)
Greetings for You ephemera pack (launching tomorrow!)
Real Red shiny ribbon (launching tomorrow!)
Traditional sparkling sequins (launching tomorrow!)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Holidays

Happy Easter

Hallelujah! Christ is Risen!

Happy Easter Sunday, everyone. As we find the grave empty today, we begin the season of Pentecost which calls for a little update to our family prayer.

If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you have heard me talk about our daily family prayer. In the last six months or so, I introduced a new prayer traditional where we recite a chosen scripture as our prayer over dinner. And as the seasons on the church calendar change, we have changed our scripture to recite over dinner. So as we move into the season of Pentecost, I’ve selected a new prayer and have updated our table display.

I’ve been using the same simple 6×6 frame that I picked up on Amazon and simply changing out the insert as we’ve moved along. I copy and paste a scripture into my Word file on my computer and print it out on a 4×6 sheet of white cardstock and then use a die to cut it out. Here I’ve used a sheet of the Thoughtful Journey designer series paper as my background and cut out the scripture using the Textured Notes dies. I adhered the prayer to the bottom of the patterned sheet with dimensionals and then scattered some of the purple sequins for some extra pizzazz. So all in all, a super simple design that packs just the right punch.

Next week, we have a new design theme. We’re going to tiptoeing through the flowers, and I hope you’ll come along!

Products used:
6×6 frame (Amazon)
Thoughtful Journey DSP
Textured Notes dies
Purple sequins
Dimensionals

Holidays

He Is Risen!

This week, our design theme has centered on the Holy Week holiday and we’ve been using the Online Exclusive bundle called Faith Collection by Stampin’ Up! to create our designs. Today is the culmination of the Holy Week series with the Easter card that pairs the Faith Collection set with the Enduring Beauty bundle to create this design celebrating Christ’s victory over death.

We get started with a base of white cardstock. The backdrop of our focal panel is a quarter sheet of white cardstock that is cut with the Pattern of Friendship die. This panel is cut down to size and then matted in a sheet of Petunia Pop glimmer paper. Our focal panel has the cross in the center that is cut from a sheet of white woodgrain paper from the Country Woods paper pack using the extension method so that the cross is a little taller. Our cross sits atop a floral spray created with the Enduring Beauty bundle. I kept the color scheme very simple and stamped the main floral image in Smoky Slate and used a combination of Shy Shamrock and Petunia Pop to add color to the leaves and floral centers and then cut out the image using the coordinating die. We’re matting the floral spray in gold mercury vellum and use the die extension method to cut the mat for our florals a little larger than the original. I’ve cut an assortment of leaves from Shy Shamrock cardstock using the individual leaves in the Enduring Beauty die set and then tucked them behind the florals. I added some Easter lilies around the cross. They’re stamped on white in Smoky Slate and have Petunia Pop centers, as well. The sentiment from the Faith Collection stamp set is stamped in Blackberry Bliss and then cut with the smallest banner die from the Countryside Corners die collection. The sentiment is mounted in the center of the cross over a sash of iridescent striped ribbon. I used some gold thread to help the sash keep its shape, making it easier to adhere to the cross underneath the sentiment. I finished things off with a gold butterfly cut from textured paper using the Beautiful Butterflies dies and also added a few purple sequins on either side of our focal image.

We’ll be closing out our Holy Week design theme with an update to the family prayer that we keep on our dinner table. I hope you’ll pop in later to see where our post-Easter scripture will lead us as we make our way to Christ’s ascension.

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Holidays

Love Never Gives Up

Happy Good Friday! While that may seem like a strange thing to say, given the historical significance of this day in the Christian faith, this day is indeed good when all is said and done. Today is necessary for the ultimate victory over sin and death and our full reconciliation to God in eternity. Thank goodness “Love never gives up!”

This week, we’re using the Faith Collection bundle to create designs to honor this Holy Week holiday. And today we pair the dies with several patterned paper packs, including Everyday Skies and Country Woods, and the Unbounded Love stamps. I used fellow demo Jackie Bolhuis’ easy step fun fold to create this Good Friday scene.

We get started with a base of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. I used a sheet of moody skies from the Everyday Skies paper pack as the backdrop for our scene. The illusion of hills is created with Thoughtful Journey papers and both of the Grove die collections. I cut three crosses from two different woodgrain patterns from the Country Woods papers using the Faith Collection dies. For Christ’s cross in the center, I used the extension method to make this cross taller than the rest. The hills are adhered to the backdrop with differing levels of dimensionals. The two darker crosses are tucked behind the grass on either side of Christ’s cross in the center. The center cross is adhered to the center panel with dimensionals so it stands above the others. The sentiment from Unbounded Love is heat embossed in black on a lighter woodgrain sheet and then diecut with the smaller banner from the Autumn Leaves dies. A few two tone sparkle gems around the crosses draw the eye across the scene and the twist of gold thread behind the panel draws the eye down to the sentiment.

We’ll be rounding out Holy Week with a design honor Resurrection Day. I hope you’ll stop in to check it out.

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Holidays

Believing in a Brighter Tomorrow

We are midway through Holy Week. For me, this is the point where things get a little hectic as my musical obligations for this special week pick up between rehearsals and services. While it may be busy, I really do cherish this special season and am always blessed to be able to share musical settings that celebrate God’s ultimate sacrifice to reconcile us to Him for eternity.

This week’s design theme centers squarely on the Holy Week celebrations and, in particular, is focusing on the new Online Exclusive bundle by Stampin’ Up! called Faith Collection. Today we are pairing it with the Thoughtful Journey designer series paper and the Unbounded Love stamps and dies bundle in a double easel fun fold design.

I tried several different layouts with this double easel design before settling on the one you see here. In my mind’s eye, I originally saw the cross on the smaller easel in the front, but visually it just didn’t accomplish the look I was hoping for. But when I moved the cross to the back, on what is essentially the card front, it completed the illusion of walking up the hill to the lone cross. And I just love how this ultimately gives the feeling of a contemplative walk to the cross at Calvary.

We get started with a base of Mossy Meadow cardstock, which is cut to standard A2 size. A sheet of the Thoughtful Journey patterned paper is the backdrop for our fun fold sunset scene. A sheet of Pretty Peacock cardstock serves as the mat for the patterned papers and the second easel section. Using the Faith Journey dies, a cross is cut from an Early Espresso woodgrain patterned sheet from the Country Woods paper pack and then adhered in the center of the card front panel with dimensionals so that the base of the cross is just below the front easel fold when the card is closed. A strip of Thoughtful Journey also covers the front easel panel. The sentiment from Unbounded Love is stamped in Early Espresso ink on Thoughtful Journey paper and then diecut with the decorative banner die from the Unbounded Love die set. Two greenery bunches, which to me look like palm branches, are cut from Mossy Meadow cardstock using the Winterly Treetops dies and are then adhered with glue dots behind the sentiment panel. Linen thread is wrapped around the small easel panel before the sentiment is adhered with dimensionals. A few In Color shimmer gems on either side of the sentiment panel add a little glimmer of color to draw the eye to the center focal section.

I’ll be taking a little break tomorrow but plan to be back with a Good Friday fun fold.

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